Indy

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett with ShiaLaBeouf. I can't say this was a bad movie, and I didn't have any expectations that it would be better than Raiders of the Lost Ark, but there was something off about this movie. We'll start with what I did like: the fact that Harrison Ford kept himself in such good shape that he didn't need any alterations done to his costume and that he could still believably kick ass. The mythos of Soviet psychics. But most importantly, I'm glad that they specifically addressed how in previous films Indiana Jones does not act like any self-respecting archaeologist should. As my archaeology professor pointed out, because he cares nothing for the context of artifacts within an archaeological site, just their prettiness and their value to a museum, he is in fact an antiquarian. This movie had no treasure hunting, per se, and and Indy left valuable relics in their place. I was glad to see that technicality was addressed.
Now for what bugged me: Shia LaBeouf does not make a convincing greaser. Period. More importantly, the movie lacked the same feel as the other movies. Maybe it's the fact that CGI has a very distinct look that the other films didn't have. I suspect its the motivation: in Raiders and The Last Crusade Indy is trying to keep the Nazis from getting the the powerful artifacts for the sake of national and global security. Hell, he nearly blows up the Ark to keep it from being opened. In this one, he seems to forget that hiding the skull (which was Oxley's plan) would probably be a better idea than bringing it back to the temple and leave it there, hoping the Soviets don't find it.
Another thing that didn't sit right with me, and I might be all alone on this one, is that this installment of the series makes the Indiana Jones universe not make sense. The Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail mean that the Bible is true, there is a God, and Moses and Jesus did exist. OK, so Christian myth is all true, and there are also aliens? God's sending down stone tablets, angels and all sorts of holy stuff while he's not only keeping people in the New World ignorant of the One True Faith, but he's letting fucking aliens mess around with the people made in His image? I suppose you could make a similar argument with Temple of Doom and the premise that Hindu mythology is also true, but maybe the unifying theme there is that all the old god myths are all true. There's not just one God, but a whole pantheon of otherwise religiously unrelated, but equally real deities. But again, except in the New World. The Abrahamic God is real, and the Hindu gods are real, but we learn those poor South Americans don't have real gods, just aliens.
And yet, as frustrating as all this is, I don't factor that into my analysis of the film's quality. It's just a pesky sidenote. My final vote is that it's better than Temple of Doom, possibly equal to Last Crusade (though that one bears rewatching) and inferior to Raiders.